"It was suggested that the group be called Country Mao and the Fish because Mao Tse-tung said that the revolutionaries move like fish through the sea, and I said that was stupid. It was suggested that we call it Country Joe and the Fish after Joseph Stalin."
"The song was innovative because it did not blame soldiers for war. It just blamed the politicians and it blamed the manufacturers of weapons. It didn't blame the soldiers. Someone who was in the military could sing the song, and the attitude is, 'Whoopee, we're all going to die.'"
"I grew up in a family of radical socialists, and quite honestly, I really get bored with the theory and speechifying of various movements and philosophies from the left. But as an entertainer, I know that you can lose your audience. I consider myself a morale-booster for these causes."
Country Joe McDonald, born Joseph Allen McDonald in 1942, founded Country Joe and the Fish after serving in the Navy from 1959-1962. The band became central to San Francisco's Summer of Love movement. Their signature song, 'I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag,' performed at Woodstock, uniquely blamed politicians and weapons manufacturers rather than soldiers for war. The band disbanded in 1971, but McDonald continued writing and performing protest music addressing environmental issues, civil rights, and nuclear proliferation. He viewed his role as a morale-booster for social causes rather than a theorist, maintaining his artistic output throughout his life until his death from Parkinson's at age 84.
Read at Vulture
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